The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile.
A. Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending
B. Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, and extended
C. Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended
D. Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended
E. Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending
Arer B and D grammatically incorrect? and why?
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the greatest road system
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Blue_Skies
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My Answer is B.simone88 wrote:The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile.
A. Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending // the non -essential clause after ,which lacks any verb. Incorrect.
B. Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, and extended // Correct
C. Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended // It adds extra relative pronoun which between the subject 'railroad system'and the verb 'was'. The extra which is not needed. Eliminated.
D. Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended // Changes the meaning as if the railroad system was expanded after it was built. Eliminated.
E. Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending // Could be correct, though i am not very positive because , the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, is merely a non essential modifier and if you neglect the stuff between commas the sentence is :
The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile.
Reading the sentence it feels like the railroad system itself was extending rather than somebody extending it.
Arer B and D grammatically incorrect? and why?
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apoorva.rattan
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fulltapori
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GMATGuruNY
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In A, the which-clause (which...Chile) lacks a verb.simone88 wrote:The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile.
A. Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending
B. Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, and extended
C. Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended
D. Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended
E. Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending
Are B and D grammatically incorrect? and why?
Eliminate A.
In C, the Incan highway (subject) lacks a verb.
Eliminate C.
With regard to B and D: extended and extending convey different meanings.
Case 1: a highway extended implies that SOMEONE STRETCHED the highway beyond its initial length.
Case 2: a highway extending implies that the HIGHWAY ITSELF was long enough to STRETCH across the indicated distance.
The intended meaning here is Case 2.
Eliminate B and D.
The correct answer is E.
Analysis of the OA:
The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile.
Here, the subject of the sentence is the Incan highway.
The greatest road system is as an APPOSITIVE serving to DEFINE the Incan highway.
The COMMA + VERBing modifier (extending from Northern Ecuador through Peru) serves an as adverb modifying the preceding clause, providing context for HOW the Incan highway WAS over 2,500 miles long.
Last edited by GMATGuruNY on Sat Jun 01, 2013 4:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Consider the followings:
F: Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in lenght and extending
G: Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in lenght, extended
Could F and G be correct answers? I am asking this becaus I want to know whether or not the usage of "was" in B and the usage of the subordinate "being over 2,500 miles in lenght" in D are mistakes.
F: Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in lenght and extending
G: Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in lenght, extended
Could F and G be correct answers? I am asking this becaus I want to know whether or not the usage of "was" in B and the usage of the subordinate "being over 2,500 miles in lenght" in D are mistakes.
The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chili.
- Lets analyze the question- subject are highlighted in Bold and verb in italic font
Clause 1 : The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus wasthe Incan highway
Clause 2: which, over 2,500 miles long and
extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chili.
So 2nd clause do not have any verb.
A. Underlined portion
B. Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, and extended - "Comma + and" starts a new clause, which do not have any subject.
C. Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended - Clause 1 do not contain the verb and extended is a modifier, which is not parallel to was over
D. Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended - Shift the main focus of scentence and use of being is incorrect here.
E. Columbus, the Incan Highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending - extending is modifying the Greatest road system and correctly expressing intent of the sentence. This is correct answer
- Lets analyze the question- subject are highlighted in Bold and verb in italic font
Clause 1 : The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus wasthe Incan highway
Clause 2: which, over 2,500 miles long and
extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to southern Chili.
So 2nd clause do not have any verb.
A. Underlined portion
B. Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, and extended - "Comma + and" starts a new clause, which do not have any subject.
C. Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and extended - Clause 1 do not contain the verb and extended is a modifier, which is not parallel to was over
D. Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended - Shift the main focus of scentence and use of being is incorrect here.
E. Columbus, the Incan Highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending - extending is modifying the Greatest road system and correctly expressing intent of the sentence. This is correct answer
Himanshu Chauhan
